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June 19, 2019

(WASHINGTON, DC – June 19, 2019) – In response to the Senate confirmation of Matthew Kacsmaryk to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Sharon McGowan, Chief Strategy Officer and Legal Director at Lambda Legal released the following statement:

“Today the U.S. Senate did further damage to our federal judiciary by confirming Matthew Kacsmaryk, yet another anti-LGBT extremist who cannot be trusted to administer fair and impartial justice to the LGBT community, or anyone who does not align with his extreme views about gender and sexuality. In confirming Kacsmaryk, the Senate has given a lifetime appointment to a nominee who has denounced efforts to secure full formal and lived equality for LGBT people as part of a dangerous ‘sexual revolution’ and who has disparaged transgender people as ‘delusional.’ Kacsmaryk’s extensive record of anti-LGBT animus should have been disqualifying, as no reasonable person can believe that LGBT Americans will receive equal justice in his courtroom. The Senate’s confirmation of Matthew Kacsmaryk during the month when our nation marks the 50th anniversary of Stonewall is highly offensive, as it is completely anathema to our Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law.”

Background:

This month, 75 LGBTQ and allied groups led by Lambda Legal sent a letter to the Senate urging opposition to Kacsmaryk, surpassing even opposition to Brett Kavanaugh.

A bipartisan coalition of Senators opposed Kacsmaryk’s nomination, who built his career on extreme opposition to any form of legal protections for LGBTQ people, including the Equality Act recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

His professional life has been marked by toxic rhetoric about members of the LGBTQ community: he has called transgender people “problematic,” claimed being transgender is a “delusion,” suggested the LGBTQ rights movement is “typified by lawlessness,” and called for a “long war” against nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people. Kacsmaryk’s record also includes extreme hostility to reproductive freedom, including his strong criticism of the Supreme Court’s landmark precedent in Roe v. Wade.

In December, over 300 parents and caregivers of transgender youth also signed a letter opposing the nomination of Matthew Kacsmaryk, stating, “Confirming Mr. Kacsmaryk as a federal judge would send a damaging and dangerous message that the dignity of children like ours does not count in the courts, or in the U.S. Senate.”